Karsten on Free Software

In a lunchtime side-event (with some snacks provided, thankfully), there was an interesting and (by WIPO’s standards) substantive discussion about Copyright and Access to Knowledge. There were four presentations: One by the head of the International Publisher’s Association, who mainly referred to the problems the publishing industry has with the Google Books project.

These boiled down to two: That Google is making money without giving some to the publishers (who would of course gladly pass it on to the authors, right, chaps?); and that copyrighted texts, once present in electronic format, could leak out into the network and – God forbid – be actually read by people.

After that, it was Teresa Hackett’s turn. She represents EIFL, a group of librarians concerned with Access to Knowledge. The group seeks to bring together libraries in developing countries to give them greater weight in negotiations with publishers and rightsholders to databases of scientific texts.

Teresa named three areas of concern. First, it is a burden for libraries that copyright limitations from the analog domain often aren’t transferred into the digital realm. This means less possibilities for libraries and those who use them.

Her second point was that, as ever more resources are digital, libraries switch from buying a work to licensing it. The problem is that libraries usually have very little bargaining power, thus ending up with restrictive license terms for their users. She demanded that licenses should not be allowed to override traditional limitations and exceptions.

The third point was that so-called Technological Protection Measures (TPM) – of which Digital Restrictions Management is one example – often make it hard or impossible for libraries to provide their users with access to the knowledge covered with such measures. On top of that, most TPMs have a lifespan of three to five years. After that, the covered work is often rendered unuseable.

The director of Creative Commons Brazil gave a very good introduction to the CC model. Many of the traditional copyright crowd that dominated the room were surprised to here that the Creative Commons model actually builds upon copyright, instead of constituting a completely different universe.

A music industry rep then gave a lengthy overview of the benefits of DRM. The benefits for the industry, that is. Nothing new here.

All in all, a halfways substantive discussion. Nothing like the main session.

The Brazilian also pointed out some interesting links: OpenBusiness for business models based on alternative licenses, and Uncycloperia for thorough comic relief.